U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette called on Congress to better fund the fight against the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic in Colorado and throughout the nation on Friday, saying legislation to address the issue thus far needs to go further.

“It’s good to have the right policies in place,” the Denver Democrat said at the Stout Street Clinic downtown, “but you have to fund the programs or it doesn’t work.”

DeGette pointed to statistics showing Colorado is second worst in the nation in prescription drug abuse and highlighted the rising number of deaths from opiates. She said the problem is exaggerated in rural areas, where there are fewer treatment resources.

“Washington has been talking about this issue for a long time, and frankly not enough has been done,” DeGette told reporters at a news conference about the issue. “Earlier this year we passed legislation targeted at opioid abuse and it was signed into law. It was a big step in beginning to revise our country’s laws around opioid abuse, and frankly it came too late.”

She added: “Even though we passed that legislation, the funding mechanisms were woefully low in that bill. There simply was not enough funding to give states and localities the money they need to combat opioid abuse.”

Heroin use has reached crisis levels across the nation, including in Colorado, where overdoses are up almost 350 percent in the past five years, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA says heroin has become its main focus in the state.

Dr. Beth Cookson, who works in opiate treatment at the Stout Street Clinic, said treating those dependent on opiates is difficult and expensive and takes a combination of medication and therapy. Abstinence-based methods have only a roughly 15 percent success rate.

The clinic, which serves Denver’s homeless community, has begun giving out the opiate-blocker naloxone — also known by its trade name, Narcan — to their clients.

DeGette, MacLennan and Cookson all agreed that more resources are needed to battle the national issue and turn the tide on dependence.

“Opioid abuse is a very complex problem that has grown up in this country,” Cookson said. “It takes a very complex response.”

Politics reporter. He has worked at The Denver Post since the summer of 2014, covering cops, courts, politics, environment, skiing and everything in between. He loves telling stories about Colorado's mountain towns and the Eastern Plains and wants to make sure our newspaper's great work extends into their communities.

More in Politics

Trump has seized on the $4,000 figure as proof that his plan would help the middle class. He talked it up in a speech to truckers last week in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a key swing state in the election.

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs bought shares of stock in a company at the center of a recent congressional ethics investigation into possible insider trading involving one of his House colleagues.